Restraint
by ariabellewrites
Summary: Caroline had only called him in an attempt to save Bonnie's life. She had never meant to set of a chain of events that had ultimately led to this moment, to the moment she would finally have to choose between her home with the people in Mystic Falls or Klaus.
1. Chapter 1

_july 18, 2026_

Caroline supposed it was always meant to come down to this.

She should've expected it, seen it coming, it was all inevitable really.

She had tried so hard to mend bridges that had never even been constructed, to form friendships where there was only anger and animosity to be found, and she had tried to right the wrongs of the past, but her past and her future were far too intermingled to ever let go of each other.

No, she supposed once day she would always be forced to choose between the home she had always been a part of, and the home she was beginning to create.

Elena stood firmly, angry flashing brightly in her otherwise dark eyes, a Salvatore brother standing just behind her, on either side. She may have chosen Damon, but those three would always be caught in an eternal dance, a lifetime of misery induced by love, it was why she knew that Stefan, her best friend in the entirety of the world, would never have chosen her over Elena. It was how the world had always been, even now when their existences in it had been made permanent.

Bonnie stood behind Damon, half her body hidden behind his, her hand laced with Jeremy's. Even with half her face hidden, she recognized the look on her face, it wasn't anger, it wasn't disgust, it was plain and simple resignation. She had accepted her fate in this war, her place in this life, and it would always be next to Jeremy – who would always stand with Elena – and Damon, that after four months in an endless cycle of simply existing, had inspired a loyalty far greater than anyone else.

Then there was Alaric and Jo – whose only place in the war was as an extension of Rick. Alaric had never been Caroline's family, he had been a friend, an incredible one, but he had always been Damon and Elena's.

Enzo stood carelessly, as if he had simply decided he would pick the side that amused him the most, he had no real investment in the war, no care for her, no need to be angry with her for whom she had chosen to love, he was simply there because he couldn't resist a fight.

Finally there was Tyler and Liv – yet another whose only place in the war was an extension. Tyler was the one she hadn't doubted for a moment would be there. He was her first love, he was meant to be the one fighting for her, not against her, but their relationship would always be defined by his need for revenge against those Caroline could bring herself to feel hatred towards.

They never had a chance.

Even now, Tyler was not there for her, he was there for Klaus.

And there he stood, on the opposite end of the hallway, his hands shoved into his pocket in cold indifference, his strikingly blue eyes betraying nothing, but Caroline knew better, she knew the turmoil that raged inside. It was burning inside of her as well.

This was not the time, nor the place for what was currently happening, they had far more important matter.

Threats that faced them, death that was rapidly approaching greedily reaching for its victim, the threat of the unknown taunting them as they attempted to survive the world just one more day. No matter what happened here today, Caroline knew that everything was going to change

Klaus was fighting for her, even in the face of everything, he had proven something to her, he was not the same man that had entered Mystic Falls, what felt like another lifetime ago, with a thirst, a need for blood, for rage, for destruction.

Hayley stood by his side, not behind him like the Salvatores with Elena, but next to him. It was an odd thing to notice, but she realized that she no longer felt the urge to rip her head off her body when she was near Klaus. She finally understood their relationship, but more than that, she had finally understood Hayley, and she was not who Caroline had thought her to be, not by a long shot. In fact, she would go so far as to say that she admired the hybrid.

Then there was Rebekah, with a soft smile playing on her lips as if she knew something everyone else did not. Caroline had never intended to be friends with Rebekah Mikaelson, out of them all, she was who she disliked the most, but once she had looked, really looked, she realized that she had wanted the same things out of life all along. Love and happiness.

Matt, was that love and happiness. He stood next Rebekah, his hand holding hers tightly in an act of show. He had made his choice years ago, a choice that for once, he hadn't made for anyone else but himself. It was the choice he was not going to falter in, a choice that he would not give up for anyone. It was funny, how life worked, he would've been Caroline's love and happiness, if she had never been turned. That much she was sure of, in another life, Matt Donovan could have been the rest of her life.

Then there was Elijah, just as calm and poised as always. He stood with Hayley, ready to defend her, but ready to acknowledge her own strength and ability. He was still ever so noble, and ever so Elijah, and Caroline found peace in the knowledge that if one thing would always be constant, it would be him, and his belief in family.

Then there was Kol and Davina. Kol who Caroline remembered in a different body but with the same quick response to any and everything, the same thirst for life, for knowledge, and the same restlessness that came from an insatiable need to know everything. Kol Mikaelson was far more clever than anyone gave him credit for. He would outsmart them all. He was only kept in line by a small girl with far too much power than she knew what to do with most days. Davina Claire, for all her plotting, had never once lost sight of who she loved, and who she was fighting for, and Caroline thought there was something to be said for that.

And then there was Marcel and Cami. Cami was someone Caroline wasn't quite sure she knew how to feel about, but even she could appreciate the human girl holding her own in a world far more dangerous than Caroline was sure she realized. However, she seemed to gravitate towards the dangerous, Marcel being the prime example. Marcel, he was the enigma. He was the son, yet he was the friend, and enemy. He was the proof that while Niklaus had become Klaus, he had never truly lost Nik.

He was the proof that Klaus was capable of redemption.

She supposed it would always come down to this.

Both her families, both filled with people she loved, people she fought for, people she fought against.

"Choose." Elena repeated, "It's either come with us, or don't ever come to Mystic Falls. It's us or them."

Caroline closed her eyes as she realized it wasn't a choice between both families, it wasn't a choice between Mystic Falls and New Orleans, it was a choice about herself.

It was about the choice she had to make between the Caroline that she was in Mystic Falls, and the Caroline that she was in New Orleans.

It was about the person that Elena and Tyler made her, and the person that Klaus and Matt made her.

It was, in fact, the age old question, whether she chose to stand with the darkness, or step into the light.

Caroline opened her eyes again, as she moved her feet, it had never really been a choice, not really, she had made her decision years ago.

_**I know you guys are most likely confused but this story will be moving backwards, this is more like the middle of the story, the next chapter will be set in the beginning, and the story will be about everything that led to this moment.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_january 9, 2025_

When she had first been turned Caroline had been given the same speech that everyone usually got when becoming a vampire, '_your emotions are going to be heightened, every part of who you are is going to be amplified, and you're going to want to feed constantly, blah, blah, blah.'_

Her first thought to that was a simple yet effective, _oh crap. _As a human Caroline had been a lot of things, shallow, annoying, needy, and controlling had been the most blaringly obvious, even she herself, could admit that, especially after thirty-three years since she had been turned.

But she had also been a lot of other things, incredibly optimistic, annoyingly hopeful, open to trying anything, and determined to make sure that everyone had fun at some kind of school event.

It only took a few months before Caroline realized that while she had in fact carried some traits with her into her immortality, most of who she had become, was someone else entirely.

Caroline Forbes, the vampire, was strong, and she did her best to be kind, and she only forced all her friends to school functions when she was sure there was no chance of them being murdered that particular night, though there were no promises that someone wouldn't at least attempt to kill them.

However, that was just a hazard of being them, she supposed.

The one thing she had brought with her from her humanity was her hope and her optimism. And it took a serious amount of hope and optimism to believe that despite the fact that she knew she was going to outlive Bonnie Bennett, she was only going to bury her best friend once she was old and grey, and had grandchildren, and there was an equally old and grey Jeremy Gilbert buried next to her.

Especially considering how many times Bonnie Bennett had died and come back to life before the age of twenty.

It was a pipe dream, at best, to hope that Bonnie would die when she was old and grey and of completely natural causes, but it was a dream, and Caroline had to believe in those if she was to face an eternity of life, which was why despite the fact that she could see what was happening to Bonnie, the way she looked like death already had one arm wrapped around her, she still refused to believe she was dying.

Bonnie Bennett, wasn't Bonnie Bennett anymore. She was Bonnie Gilbert, and she was thirty-three years old, and she had two kids both with Jeremy's skin and hair color, and her green eyes, six year old Grayson Thomas Gilbert and two year old Jenna Miranda Gilbert.

And she deserved to see her kids grow up.

"Hey." Jeremy said softly as he entered the kitchen where Caroline was sitting on a bar stool a cup of coffee that had long since gone cold held tightly between her hands, "When did you get here?"

"Early enough to make breakfast." She said nodding her head towards the counter where she had set up a small buffet.

"Feeding an army there?" He raised his eyebrows.

Okay, so maybe she had gone slightly overboard.

"You know how picky Jenna is." Caroline said in an attempt to defend herself.

"Jenna is two."

"How is she?" She asked softly.

Jeremy sighed running a hand through his hair before shaking his head, "She's been out cold since last night, I don't think she's getting up today."

Caroline nodded tightly, before taking a sip of her too cold coffee that did nothing for her.

It had come out of nowhere, Bonnie's sickness that they didn't have a name for, one day she had gone to sleep and she hadn't woken up for a week. She was in a coma more than she was awake, and when she was awake she was constantly suffering from nosebleeds, and unable to control her magic.

It was to the point where it was easier to keep her safe when she wasn't awake.

Alaric was reading books, researching, trying to figure out anything that could help them figure out something to help her with.

Jo was meeting with other covens trying to figure out if anything like this had ever happened before.

Damon was hunting, snapping necks when he didn't get the answers he wanted, lashing out in an attempt to save a girl he cared far more about then he would ever admit.

Elena spent her days following Damon, half encouraging him, half urging him to control himself.

Stefan, well Caroline wasn't really sure what Stefan was doing.

And as for herself, Caroline was taking care of Bonnie's family.

"What about you? How are you?"

Jeremy didn't get the chance to reply before two small children walked into the kitchen, the girl dragging a teddy bear by its ear, and the boy looking tired.

"I don't want to go to school." Grayson complained as Caroline stood up, making plates of breakfast for them as Jeremy got them settled, "Jenna doesn't have to go to school."

"Jenna is two." Jeremy said unimpressed with his argument, "Eat, Aunt Elena's going to pick you up from school."

"Why can't Mom pick me up?"

"Because she's sick, buddy." Jeremy said gently as he walked over to where Jenna was still standing in a tired daze, and picking her up, "But I promise you'll have tons of fun with Aunt Elena."

"Mom is tons more fun than Aunt Elena." Grayson grumbled as he stabbed at the eggs with his fork.

Caroline resisted the urge to both laugh and cry, Grayson Gilbert was probably the only kid in the world who thought his mom was the single most coolest person to ever exist, and would voluntarily hang out with his mom over his aunt.

"Daddy!" Jenna cried loudly as she burst into hysterical laughter that was like always, contagious.

Jeremy laughed and kissed her forehead, and Caroline closed the Spider Man lunchbox and tucked it into the matching back pack.

"Are those chicken nuggets?" Grayson asked.

"Just like you wanted." Caroline confirmed.

"Did you make them like Mom makes them?"

"As best as I could."

The answer seemed to placate Grayson, as he turned back to finish the last of his food, before putting his plate away, and declaring he was ready to go to school.

Jeremy and Caroline did a quick trade off with Jenna and Grayson's backpack, before Jeremy was out the door taking Grayson to school, and Caroline was making yet another attempt to feed Jenna breakfast without half the food going down her shirt.

"Chicky!" Jenna cried happily as she spooned some scrambled eggs into her mouth.

"You're so cute." Caroline laughed as she gave up on the eggs and just handed her the sippy cup of milk would hold her over for a while.

"Jenna play?"

Caroline laughed again, in an effort to piss off his parents, Grayson had taught his sister to talk about herself in the third person, but personally she thought it was one of the most entertaining things in the world.

"Don't touch Grayson's things." She warned as the little girl ran off towards the playroom.

She was _not _intercepting that fight again.

Caroline made quick work of cleaning up the kitchen before making her way upstairs, making sure to keep her ear open for Jenna.

She had always loved Bonnie and Jeremy's bedroom, in a way that was completely uncreepy.

There was something about it that felt like running into her parents' bedroom in the morning when she had been a little girl, and her dad had just been her dad, and her mom had just been her mom, there was no vampires, no hunters, not even a gay boyfriend.

They had just been a family.

But Bonnie and Jeremy's room had the one thing her parents' room never, it was all genuine.

Photos of the family of four were stuck in a frames, but her favorite frame by far was the one hanging on the wall.

It was split in half with two pictures.

On the left was a picture from Bonnie and Jeremy's wedding, it was candid, and it was the moment that they had kissed at the altar, it was beautiful, and it was wonderful, and it was the first moment Caroline realized they had grown up.

Bonnie was twenty-five, and Jeremy was twenty-three, and they were married. They weren't the same kids from high school, where half the time one of them was dead, this was the beginning of the rest of their lives.

The picture next to it was simple, it was a simple picture taken at the park with one year old Jenna sitting on Bonnie's hip, and five year old Grayson on Jeremy's, they were all smiling at the camera, and there was nothing exceptional about it, and that in itself, the normalcy of it, was exceptional to her.

That was the moment she realized they hadn't grown up after all. Mentally, sure. Maturity, it was arguable.

But only Bonnie and Jeremy had grown up.

They were the ones living by themselves, the rest of them were still living in the boarding house like a bunch of college kids, they were the ones who were aging, and they were the ones who had a family.

They had all grown up, but Caroline would never be anything other than seventeen.

She thought about it more and more lately, the things she would never be able to have, because she would never age.

"Look at me." Caroline shook her head as she sat on the floor by Bonnie's head, "Feeling sorry for myself, when it's about you right now. Jenna's playing with her toys, and Grayson's at school, and Jeremy is going to try and get some answers for you, and I'm right here, ready to spend the whole day with you, if you'd just wake up."

The effort was futile, so she wasn't all that disappointed when Bonnie didn't wake, but she figured she had to at least try.

Caroline muttered a curse at the sound of her phone vibrating against the kitchen counter downstairs, but rushed down to get it anyway.

"Hey."

"Hey, you have a second?"

"Yeah." She confirmed at the sound of Alaric's voice.

"Okay, so I'm going through one of Jo's dad's old Gemini coven journals, and there's a lot of mentions about curses being passed down through ancestral magic, it could be what we're dealing with since Bonnie's magic is the main thing being affected."

"So the Bennett witches."

"Right, which got me thinking, Emily Bennett came to Mystic Falls with Katherine, which means that if the Bennett line didn't originate in Mystic Falls, then they had to come from somewhere else, somewhere with strong ties to magic."

"Right, Salem." Caroline confirmed, "Bonnie told us before she even knew she was a witch, I can't believe none of us thought of that."

"That's because Bonnie's supposed to be the last Bennett witch, unless Jenna or Grayson becomes one, but not the point, she isn't the last of the Bennett's."

"She isn't?"

"Not according to these." Alaric said, "There's an old witch, she has to be in her seventies, maybe even eighties now, she's still in Salem. Her name's Constance Bennett, she owns, get this, an apothecary run by her step-daughter."

"So, who's going to Salem?"

"You."

Caroline groaned loudly, she should've known when she was the one who got the phone call that she was the one who was going to have to go.

"Who's going to take care of the kids? Not all of us can compel a living, Jeremy has to work." She said glancing at green chalkboard that was hung on the wall of the kitchen that Bonnie used to cutely write the day's menu on after she got tired of Grayson asking her what they were eating repeatedly.

Now it housed the calendar, and everything the kids needed to get to, that Jeremy needed help with.

"Stefan is going to hit the road with Damon, and Elena's already on her way back so she can be there in time to pick Grayson up from school, she's going to stay with them till you get back." Alaric explained.

She couldn't help but wonder why she was still surprised that they already had everything figured out, of course they had already made the plans without talking to her about it first. It was slightly annoying, but it was for Bonnie, and anything that was for Bonnie, was doable.

"I still don't get why Damon and Elena can't go."

"Damon?" Alaric repeated, "Interrogate a seventy year old woman?"

"Well what's wrong with Elena?"

"Where Elena goes, Damon goes."

"I'll leave tonight." Caroline said as Jenna walked into the kitchen in that adorable little way she had.

"We don't have time to waste, Caroline."

"You think I don't know that." She practically hissed lifting Jenna up with one arm, and hoisting her up onto her hip, "But I have a baby with me, and her mom is just a little busy to take care of her."

"Problem solved." Alaric said right as there was a knock on the door.

Caroline hung up on him with a huff, as she hugged Jenna just a little bit closer to her.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go to Salem, she wanted to do anything she could to help Bonnie, it was just that she had been living in Jeremy and Bonnie's house for three months, because Bonnie had specifically asked her to take care of her family while she couldn't, and she would be damned if she didn't honor that promise.

"I know this is weird." Jo said as a greeting when Caroline swung the front door open.

"Do you even know her name?" She asked furrowing her eyebrows, as she stepped to the side, letting Jo in.

"Jenna." Jo said quickly, "And she's allergic to strawberries, so none of those, she'll want a snack at twelve, she's goes down for a nap at one, Elena and Grayson will be back by 2:30, and currently, her favorite movie is The Little Mermaid, but that changes every week."

Caroline raised her eyebrows.

Jo raised a folder she instantly recognized with her own set of raised eyebrows, "You make kick ass instruction folders."

"That I do." She nodded, "But you still have to pass the baby test. Jenna, this is Ms. Jo."

"Lo?" Jenna asked innocently.

"Sure." Jo laughed as she held out her arms, "You want to come here?"

Jenna didn't even hesitate.

Caroline wished she could say she was surprised, but she wasn't, the baby test was a joke, Jenna Gilbert was going to get voted 'most likely to be kidnapped' one day. The kid had never met a stranger in her life.

"Well Jenna." She sighed, "Guess who's going to Salem?"

_**I know this chapter didn't really have much in it in regards to action or Klaus, but I had to set the backstory, I promise it picks up in the next chapter. Thank you so much for such sweet reviews on the last chapter. (:**_


	3. Chapter 3

_january 10, 2025_

Constance Bennett was an entity of her own, that much Caroline was very sure of when she walked into the back room of the well-managed apothecary only to find a bedroom cluttered with crumbled papers and pens dried of ink.

"She's a little batty." Her step-daughter warned, "Okay she's a lot batty, but no one's come to see her in years, she could use a visitor."

"Thanks." Caroline said as she waited for her to leave before knocking on the open door gently, "Ms. Bennett? Constance?"

"Old Constance knew Caroline would come."

Her voice was raspy, like a women who had smoked so much, like she had quit just before it completely cost her, her voice.

"Excuse me?"

Her back was hunched slightly, and she walked with a cane that looked less sturdy than her, her eyes were wild never focusing on something for too long, and from the looks of it, she spent most of her time sitting on a wooden chair, writing her crumbled papers on a small wooden circular table.

But there was something about her, something about the look in her wild eyes, something about the way she looked like she had seen the worst of the world but she still had the ability to trust it, to have faith in it, it was the same look that Bonnie had in her eyes.

"Old Constance knew Caroline would come."

"You did?" Caroline asked as she sat down in the other wooden chair, at the opposite side of the table.

"Old Constance did." She confirmed.

Maybe Grayson had been right about the whole referring to oneself in the third-person thing.

"How did you know I'd come?"

"Old Johanna told Old Constance."

"And Old Johanna is?" Caroline furrowed her eyebrows slightly, the woman spoke the way she spoke, she got that, but it was confusing as hell.

"Old Johanna saw the future, girl." Constance laughed loudly, "But Old Johanna didn't see when they come for her."

"They?"

"Caroline, this is Salem, in Salem there shall always be witches, and there shall always be those who hunt them. Old Johanna burn, girl. She burn like the ancestors."

"Right the ancestors." Caroline said loudly before the woman could go off on a tangent, "Do the Bennett witches have any curses placed on them?"

"The Bennett witches were good!" Constance yelled so loudly, slamming her frail fist into the table that Caroline fell into a silence.

"They still are." She said softly, "The Bennett witches are as good as they come, I know that, I want to save one, but you have to help me."

"There ain't no more Bennett witches girl." She shook her head sadly, "Old Constance all alone."

"No, you aren't, Ms. Bennett." Caroline argued, "There's a witch in Mystic Falls, she's my best friend, and her name was Bonnie Bennett, she's married now so she's Gilbert, but that's not the point. You aren't alone Ms. Bennett, and neither is Bonnie. You can help me save her."

"Old Constance's heart hurts for you."

"For me?"

Her eyes, dark, suddenly focused on her for the first time, and the impact of that, despite how purely psychological it was, felt like a wall slamming into her chest, "Oh how Caroline's friends will betray her."

"Ms. Bennett." Caroline said slowly, "How do you know me?"

"I told Caroline! Old Johanna saw it!"

"What did Old Johanna see?"

"Old Constance can't say." She shook her head, her eyes turning wild again, "The ancestors forbade it. The ancestors are much more powerful here in Salem, at the source of magic. Old Constance ain't ready to burn yet."

"Forbade what?"

"The prophecy."

"Prophecy?" Caroline scoffed.

She had heard a lot of things, and when she said a lot, she meant a lot, but the one thing she hadn't heard of, was something as ridiculous as a prophecy. Let alone one that somehow involved her. It made a hell of a lot more sense if the prophecy involved Elena.

She was after all the doppelganger, everything always seemed to come back to that.

"Old Constance can't say anymore."

"Okay, that's fine." She agreed, she wasn't interested in hearing tales, "Have you ever heard of a curse put on a Bennett witch that makes a witch unable to control her magic and fall into comas?"

"It ain't a curse on a Bennett witch."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked.

In her world of fast paced change, there were very few things set in stone, but one of the things that were was that Bonnie was a Bennett witch.

"Caroline, Bonnie ain't suffering from no Bennett curse." Constance wagged a finger in her general direction, "She's suffering from the curse of magic."

"Ms. Bennett, I need you to think." Caroline urged, "If you can't remember a curse placed on the Bennett's think about a cure, some kind of all-purpose use antidote, there has to be something with some kind of magic healing powers!"

"But doesn't Caroline know?"

"Know what?" She cried in frustration.

"It's quite odd, quite odd indeed." Constance tilted her head slightly, "Caroline doesn't even know what she can do."

"Constance." Caroline said in her 'I'm super frustrated but I'm trying really hard to be patient with you' voice, "I am not a witch, and vampire blood isn't healing her."

"Vampire blood?" Constance furrowed her eyebrows, "Old Constance didn't say anything about vampire blood."

"Then what does Old Constance mean?" She practically yelled.

"Old Constance is talking about the hybrid's blood!" Constance cried back.

The hybrid, as it turned out, was someone she hadn't thought about in a long time.

Or rather, someone she hadn't allowed herself to think about it a long time.

She was not the same girl she was thirteen years ago when she had finally given in to her darkest desire and had let Klaus take her in those woods, she was not that girl by a long shot.

She wasn't in love with Tyler anymore, she didn't have any feelings for Stefan anymore, her mom was dead, there had been some semblance of peace for the past ten years, and Caroline even had a degree that she didn't have to compel for herself.

But more than all of those things Matt was dead.

And for a long time Caroline didn't know how to be Caroline after that.

He was the good one, out of all of them, he was the one that deserved a happy ending, not a hit and run in a drunk driving accident that resulted in his immediate death.

And so Caroline had put everyone she even remotely cared about in a small box, and pushed them away deep inside of her, and unfortunately, for some reason, that box had included Klaus.

Slowly, as she had come to terms with her grief, she had pulled people out of her box, allowing herself to love them, to care for them, to need them, but Klaus had to stay in that box.

She hadn't let herself so much as think about what it could mean that she had even allowed herself to put him in a box filled with those she loved the most.

Her thumb hovered precariously over his name, as she sat on a curb just outside of the apothecary.

She had left that number in her phone for thirteen years, justifying that it was 'for emergencies,' it shouldn't have surprised her really, that she would actually have to call him in an emergency.

Nothing ever did seem to work out her way.

It was ironic, if this was for anyone else, Caroline could have called Bonnie and asked her to be the one to talk to Klaus, so she wouldn't have to, and Bonnie would've done it, without a single moment of hesitation.

Anyone else, well, she would always be Klaus bait.

Despite the fact it had been thirteen years, the number would work that much she was sure of it. Even with all the awful things he had done in mind, he had always seemed to come through, at least for her, in her time of need.

Not that that erased all the awful things he had done.

Because it didn't.

And she hated him for those things.

_This is for Bonnie. This is all for Bonnie. _She thought to herself as the sound of the ring filled her ear. _She would do it for me. _

God, why couldn't she ever fall for a guy as good as Jeremy Gilbert?

Oh right she had, that was Matt.

This was so stupid, she was not going to overthink something as dumb as a conversation with Klaus Mikaelson, she had resisted him for so long, found his charm incredibly annoying, and she was not going to let anyone, let alone Klaus, get in her way of saving Bonnie.

She furrowed her eyebrows slightly as the phone was answered.

He didn't say anything immediately, instead the sounds of the one thing she never associated with Klaus Mikaelson echoed through the line, though the sound was more of a background noise, it was laughter.

Not just of a single person, but multiple, and one laugh that stood out the most.

Caroline had heard, not once, not twice, but more times than she could care to admit, the sound of Klaus Mikaelson's laughter. It was warm, and intoxicating, and it was unburdened. Three things that he himself, was not.

But then his voice came down the line, just as warm, just as intoxicating, just as unburdened. Just like he always talked to her.

"Hello, Caroline."


End file.
